Eighty knee replacements with a total condylar prosthesis in patients
who had rheumatoid arthritis were followed for ten years. At ten years,
nineteen knees needed revision and sixty-one prostheses were still
functioning. The major reasons for revision were loosening of the tibial
component or late bacteremic seeding from another site. Radiolucency at the
bone-cement interface adjacent to the tibial component was statistically
related to malposition of the tibial component. According to the system of
The Hospital for Special Surgery, the mean scores were 64 points
preoperatively and 85 points postoperatively. Synovitis recurred in only 3
per cent of the knees. When revision, pain, or radiographic evidence of
loosening were considered an indication of failure, the ten-year cumulative
survival was 75 per cent.